Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's Quincy bay Race Week, 87th this year, and President Bonnie Marcel is here along with Frank Hart to tell us more about it. Welcome, guys and gals.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:00:10] Speaker C: Hey, Joe, thanks for having us here.
[00:00:11] Speaker A: Hey, Frank. Always good to see you. Either in front of the camera or behind it. Appreciate all your help here. And Bonnie, great to see you as well.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: As I mentioned, the 87th, Quincy Bay race Week, do you know that there are still folks that have never heard of it?
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Hard to believe.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: Hard to believe.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: But after today, everyone will know about it.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Exactly. Because we're going to make sure of that. Right?
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Yeah. The first one was in 1937.
And it's a long standing tradition of one design racing.
And we've had three separate lines out there for the PHRF, which are the very big sailboats, and then the outside line, which are the larger one design boats, and then the inside line, which is the smaller racing boats.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Do you know how did it all kind of get started?
Why a race week?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Because a lot of yacht clubs were putting together race weeks, Marblehead Race week.
All the boats would go up there. Back in 37, there weren't a lot of people with motorboats.
Everybody had sailboats back then. And the yacht clubs were thriving back then, too.
And it became pretty exciting. There were only two years since 37. We didn't have it. One was during World War II and the other one was the first year of COVID We didn't hold it.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: But other than that, very impressive record, really. And I think it speaks to the dedication and the commitment to people who sail the vessels. Right. This is a passion for them. It's a way of life.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: It's a way of life. That's right.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Tell me a little bit about your story, Bonnie, and how you got involved with Quincy Bay Race Week.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Oh, I've been racing my whole life.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Have you?
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
I started out in a turnabout when I was a kid. And then we bought lasers. We had a fleet of lasers. And then our parents had hustlers. So I started crewing for my father. And one year he hurt his shoulder. He had bursitis or something like that, so he couldn't hold the tiller anymore. So he put me on the tiller, so I felt like a tiller extension. And he told me which way to go and what to do and everything. And we won everything that year. Yes.
[00:02:27] Speaker A: From then on, you were the tiller person.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: And then I got my own hustler.
So in my 20s, I got my own hustler. And this and that. And I went to the Quincy Bay race week meetings with my father. He was a delegate, and I would go as well.
And I met my husband through sailing. He was the race committee on the outside line, Mike Marcel, and he raced tornadoes back in the day, which is a high performance Olympic class catamaran.
So that's how you grew up here in Quincy, in Squantum, yeah.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: All right.
And which yacht club at that time were you associated with?
[00:03:08] Speaker B: When I was a kid, I was at Wallace and yacht Club.
In 1984, a lot of the racing sailors moved over to Squannum Yacht Club. So I went over to Squantum Yacht Club, joined there in 1984.
And then my husband. So I'm a life member at Squannum Yacht Club. I'm an honorary member for life at Wollaston Yacht Club because I was their first female member.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Is that right?
[00:03:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:03:33] Speaker B: And Michael joins. Is a member of Quincy Yacht Club and he races a star now, so he's also a member at Cottage park up in Winthrop.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Okay. How did you become president of the Race Greek Association?
[00:03:48] Speaker B: The eight clubs take turns on who they put up to be in, have the. They call it honors to become the second vice president.
So when it was Squantum's turn to put someone up to be second vice president, my name came up.
And the criteria is you have to be a commodore of some sort to be put up for that. And I was the vice commodore at Squantum Yacht Club, so I was second vice president and then first vice president. And this year I'm president.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: Congratulations.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: And next year I'll be a past president.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: So it's just a one year term.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: It's a one year term.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Tell me about the association itself. You know, what does that consist of?
[00:04:35] Speaker B: It's made up of eight yacht clubs.
Squantum, Wollaston, Quincy.
I don't want to file this up town, River, Westagusset, Braintree, Metropolitan, South Shore.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Very good.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: You get an A.
I do the map. I try to do the map in my head.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: Sure. And about how many, not even, you know, how many members roughly does that.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: Does that for the.
Come to the meetings. All eight clubs.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Association, would you say?
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Well, that's a good question, Joe.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: That's why I'm looking at him answer it.
[00:05:13] Speaker C: Okay, I'll make this one up.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:15] Speaker C: Meetings, we usually get 20 or 30 people delegates there. Yeah, they're usually commodores.
Someone in the commodore chain usually shows up from every. From every club, whether it's a rear of ice of the commodore or a past commodore. And then there's delegates. Each club has five or six delegates to represent the whole club, to represent the club and bring the information back to the club about what's being talked about when the regatta is going to be, things like that that will be happening. So on a good day, there's probably 30 or so people at a meeting.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: And we have a board of trustees, which is.
There's probably 10 people.
And everybody on the board has a job pretty much to do and we have a lot of activities. Everybody seems to think it's just a one week regatta and it's a lot more than that.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: What does that tell us?
[00:06:10] Speaker B: Well, we run the summer sales disc Regatta which I think you already covered on another show but just wrapped up. Yeah, that's on the summer sales disc and that's a PHRF regatta, which is the bigger, the bigger boats.
And we have scholarships and we have Rendezvous Night during Quincy Bay Race week where Town river hosts Rendezvous Night. It's kind of like a celebration, celebration.
[00:06:38] Speaker C: Party for the race week.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: And then we have the Bubble Boat invasion which is going to be August 4th this year.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: The bubble boats.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Yep, they have. Well, we used to have a boat parade that would go along Walston Beach.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: Oh, I remember.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: Yeah, we used to have a beauty pageant too, but the tide got in the way of timing and everything and so they kind of substituted it with. It's called a bubble boat invasion, which is like an inflatable boat that people ride around it and they bring the water guns and they shoot each other. So. So it starts at Town River Yacht Club. That's going to be on the 8th of August and it's at 1o'. Clock and then it goes to Costa.
[00:07:26] Speaker C: Met and Metropolitan, Braintree and Braintree Yacht.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Club and then rounds back to Town River Yacht Club. So that's kind of a fun celebration as well.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: Yeah. And I know there's a lot of camaraderie and social activities. The clubs hold all year round. Right.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: And the clubs have different issues. So it's kind of nice to get together with the other clubs and find out how they deal with certain issues.
We have a common landlord, some of us.
Right.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: Dcr.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: The dcr. So we all have similar issues.
Excuse me, Associated with that.
Some of the yacht clubs have liquor licenses, some of them don't.
So we deal with that as we see fit.
Yeah.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Okay. So it's a whole organization.
[00:08:14] Speaker C: It's a good way to get to.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: Meet the sailing community.
[00:08:16] Speaker C: It's a good way to get to Meet people from the other yacht clubs and talk with them and see what they're up to.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: How did you yourself, Frank, get involved with the race week?
[00:08:29] Speaker C: Well, when I was going through the Commodore chain, Squantum, I started going to the meetings there. So that was in.
I was Commodore in 79, so about 77.
I'm sorry. I was Commodore in 2015. I joined in 1979.
Get this straight.
And so I started going to the meetings in about 2008, 2009, and I went to the meetings as a delegate for quite a while. And then Paul Lewis, you know Paul, maybe a lot of people that have watched the show know Paul from the. He's the one who used to come on and do all this. He wanted, after about 10 or 12 years of going through the chain, to be president and then doing media and publicity.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: That's a lot.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: He wanted a break, so he talked me into it.
Here I am.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: There you are.
[00:09:24] Speaker C: Yeah. And, you know, and one thing about being a volunteer at qatv, I get to use the equipment. So we. Last year, we did multiple shows on the regatta, and we're planning on doing that again this year with the help of QATV to put it all together. So thank you for that.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: Yeah, we're happy to do it. We're glad you're able to do it, actually. But like Bondi, did you grow up sailing? Is it kind of in your blood?
[00:09:48] Speaker C: No, no, not like Bondi.
My father had a Powerball back in the 60s, and I was actually.
I always liked the water, liked being around the ocean, liked surfing, doing that. And I was working at the University of Maryland, and my boss had a sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay, and we went out for the day on the boat. Light wind, just. Boat was barely moving, just ghosting along.
And I got hooked.
I said, I gotta get one of these.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Is that right?
[00:10:20] Speaker C: Yeah. Unfortunately, I made a detour getting back here through New Mexico. So it was a few years later that I. I actually bought a sailboat. That's when I joined squantum in 79.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: I see. Okay.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: With a sailboat.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Whole different experience, right, than a motorboat?
[00:10:33] Speaker C: Oh, totally.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Completely different.
I can only imagine.
[00:10:36] Speaker C: I don't know, but it's just so nice and quiet.
Just the way it moves through the water and doesn't bang. And they're much different. Sure.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: It's not so quiet when you're racing, though.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: A lot of yelling and screaming.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: So let's talk about the race this year, buddy. Quincy bay Race Week, 87th, when is it?
What will be happening?
[00:10:58] Speaker B: The Inside Line is going to be hosted by Wessagusset Yacht Club.
Excuse me. And that'll be July 24th and 25th.
And one thing I forgot to mention was we have five scholarships to hand out this year. The due dates already come in for the essays, which will be redacted. And the board will decide who the winners are. $2,000 scholarships and three $500 scholarships. Those will be awarded on the 25th.
So the regatta is the 24th and the 25th of July at Westagusset Yacht Club. And that's for the Inside Line. There'll be opties there, 420s Club. 420s Club. 420s, yeah. N10s, which the old turnabouts, widgeons and lasers will be on that.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: These are all different types of sailing.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: One design sailing boats. Yes. And then the outside line, so that's Thursday and Friday. The outside line on Saturday and Sunday will be from Squantum Yacht Club on Saturday and Sunday at Wollaston Yacht Club.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: And that will be Stars, Thunderbirds and Hustlers. We'll be racing on that and I'll be on that race committee and you'll be with us.
[00:12:17] Speaker C: Hopefully I'll be filming.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: So this is a four day event.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Four day event, yeah.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Okay. And there's a competition, right? It's a race, yes, yes. Are there prizes?
[00:12:27] Speaker B: Absolutely. Oh, and nobody loves the prizes more than the kids.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: Oh, I bet. Yeah. What are the prizes?
[00:12:34] Speaker B: Usually trophies that say the year and what they won, first, second and third.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Each category or each class?
[00:12:42] Speaker B: Yes, each class will get at least first, second and third.
[00:12:45] Speaker C: The thing is too, Joe, on some of these categories, the one designs for the kids, like the Optis and the N10s, there's different fleets within each one of those. And in the Optis it depends on age. And the N10s, it depends on experience.
But the Optis have four different fleets and the N10s have three different fleets. So there's prizes in each one of those, trophies in each one of those fleets too.
And then an overall for the Optis.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's highly competitive. It sounds like a lot of bragging rights, folks coming back to defend their titles kind of thing.
[00:13:19] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:13:20] Speaker A: Okay. And as the kids kind of age, do they graduate to different classes of vessels?
[00:13:26] Speaker C: They move up.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:13:28] Speaker C: It usually runs Opties, they start in the Optis and then some of them will go to the N10s, some of them will go to the club, 420s club. 420 is a more popular boat now than the. Than the N tents, so they do that.
The lasers. Sometimes they go from the Optis into lasers when they get a little bit older. There's a couple of classes of lasers also.
And Quincy, City of Quincy has some widgeons, and Quincy Yacht Club has some widgeons, so they will race in those.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Oh, from the recreation department sailing program.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: Oh, really?
Okay. Did you come through that program, Bonnie?
[00:14:06] Speaker B: No, I went through the sailing program at Wollaston Yacht Club, and some of the clubs have sailing programs. Squantum, Wollaston, Quincy, Town River, South Shore, West Augustett, Westagusset.
So if the other clubs that don't have sailing programs, members there can send their kids to the clubs that do have sailing programs. Yes.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: And they're open to the public, Some of them, too, At a different rate, of course. Yeah.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: Okay. So worthwhile to check that out if folks are interested as well. Right. Now, for spectators who want to watch Quincy Bay Race Week, what are some good ways for them to do that.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: For the inside line on the 25th and 24th. And 25th.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: 24Th and 25th. That's down in Weymouth, so they call it the new beach down in Westagusset. There you can see a lot from the water. From there, you'll be able to see that. Or if you're out in a boat in the Fore river, you can see a lot, too. And then on Saturday and Sunday, any place on Wollaston Beach, Nut island, you can see the outside line racing.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: Okay. All right, so it's. So it's free for folks to watch.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: And it's visible from the beach, so you don't need binoculars or drones or.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: No.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: When I was a kid, Narragansett Beer used to sponsor Quincy Bay Race Week.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: Is that right?
[00:15:34] Speaker B: And they used to run fireworks in the middle of Quincy Bay. And everybody in Quincy could see them because they'd be in the middle of Quincy Bay.
But we don't do alcohol sponsors anymore.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: Gotcha. Okay.
[00:15:47] Speaker C: DCR doesn't permit us.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: No, they frown on that, I guess.
But I mean, it's. I mean, it really is indicative of. Of the popularity and also the vitality of sailing still, you know, 87 years later here in Quincy.
For folks who want to learn more or maybe participate. How do they do that?
[00:16:09] Speaker B: We have a website, quincybayraceweek.com. here you go.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Okay. Easy enough.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: And it's got all kinds of places where you can donate. We have a yearbook where people donate money or they can be sponsors we haven't closed that down yet to publish it yet so that's there's a spot on the website that says contribute so click on that and you can see how to contribute.
[00:16:40] Speaker C: Yeah this fundraising is this is how Quincy Bay gets their money yes so anybody that becomes a sponsor there were 501 so it is tax deductible also but it's a good organization to sponsor it goes to help the sailing and sometimes they help out a little bit with just the communications among the different sailing schools talking to each other about what they do and how they're doing it and trying to build up the sailing schools Hope you.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: Have a wonderful event again this year I wish you ferses right calm wins not too calm not too calm just enough just enough to race with but thank you both for coming by and appreciate the opportunity to learn more about.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: It thank you for all your support.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: Thanks Sherry welcome always a pleasure and.
